The Chairman of the Oireachtas Health Committee has said the Health Service Executive needs to clarify the number of women affected by the CervicalCheck controversy.
Dr Michael Harty's call follows evidence from the HSE at the committee last week that four of the 221 women at the centre of the CervicalCheck controversy did not have cervical cancer.
One of those women, Julie O'Reilly, died last month following an eighteen month battle with cancer.
Months before her death she was contacted by the HSE and told that she was one of 221 women at the centre of the CervicalCheck controversy.
Her previous smears were audited as part of that process, but Julie O'Reilly's diagnosis was endometrial cancer.
Five consultant gynecological oncologists have written to the HSE's Chief Clinical Officer saying it had been incorrect for her to be included in the CervicalCheck audit.
The doctors say that given the ongoing crisis of confidence in cervical screening, it is imperative that the HSE provide clear guidance as to the manner in which such factual inaccuracies should be corrected.
The O'Reilly family solicitor Cian O'Carroll said he could not understand how the doctors could say that Ms O'Reilly should not be included in the audit when nobody had been able to establish what the criteria for the audit were.
The Chair of the Oireachtas Committee Dr Michael Harty has called for clarity about the numbers
Dr Harty said the revelation that four of the 221 women did not have cervical cancer calls into question the accuracy of the figures the HSE has and the accuracy of the audit.
"It causes mistrust in the public and confusion in the medical profession about how this miscategorisation could have taken place."
In a statement the HSE said it is currently "aware of four cases where the woman does not have a diagnosis of cervical cancer at present, however every individual patient journey is different and a patient's status may change over time".
It said the HSE will "shortly commence a validation excercise to ensure data held by the National Screening Service, in relation to the 221 women affected by the CervicalCheck audit, is fully up to date".
Dr Harty said: "I think that needs to be done very quickly to give clarity and confidence to people."
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